NBA Odds, Picks & Predictions: Sunday (2/9)
Sunday is a small, three-game matinee slate with America's eyes on the football world Sunday evening. Even though there are only three games, they provide plenty of great opportunities with sides and totals. Here are my favorite picks for the afternoon.
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Sunday's Best NBA Picks
(Odds Courtesy FanDuel Sportsbook)
Charlotte Hornets at Detroit Pistons
It's been a rough go of things in the standings for Charlotte this year. The 13-36 mark they own is far from where they hoped they would be with this roster. Although the play isn't resulting in wins, it's resulting in a very solid 25-20-4 against the spread (ATS) record. The books continue to undervalue these Hornets, especially as underdogs where that ATS record improves to 25-14-4.
For Detroit, they've been one of the most impressive teams as far as exceeding expectations. They've already surpassed their season win total of 25.5 and we aren't even at the All-Star break yet. Even the ATS record is impressive (27-24-1). A closer look at the home ATS record (12-14) and favorite ATS record (6-9) indicate that maybe they haven't completely flipped the switch to contenders.
All three early season matchups between these teams came down to the wire. Charlotte won both matchups at home as underdogs. Detroit managed to return the favor in January, although they didn't manage to cover the spread. Detroit All-Star Cade Cunningham is listed as a game-time decision as is the newly acquired Denis Schröder. Regardless of these players' availability, this is too many points for the Pistons to give any opponent. I'll take the underdogs.
Pick: Hornets +9.5 (-110)
Philadelphia 76ers at Milwaukee Bucks
The 76ers and Bucks meet up on Sunday in a nationally televised game leading into the final week of games before the All-Star break. Both of these teams are looking to rinse out the taste of defeat on Friday night and both lost outright as road favorites. Giannis Antetokounmpo has been declared out for this game and thus the line has moved in Philadelphia's favor since it's open on Saturday afternoon.
Philadelphia has been a below-average defensive team this season. Star big man Joel Embiid has missed 36 games this season due to injury and he's listed as a game-time decision for this one. When Embiid is on the floor, the 76ers are 8-7 straight up (SU) - a far bit better than the 12-24 when he is out of the lineup. On Friday, Embiid and the rest of the lineup started slow and stumbled to a 29-point halftime deficit. They were able to turn the defense on in the second half and allowed just 47 second-half points in a 13-point loss.
For Milwaukee, the loss of Antetokounmpo is big. His 31.8 points per game aren't something the Bucks can easily replace. Defensively, he's even more difficult to replace. His +1.2 estimated plus-minus on the defensive end is way ahead of Bobby Portis (+0.1), Taurean Prince (-0.9) and Kyle Kuzma (-0.6), who are likely to fill in for him. In the last eight games with Embiid in the lineup, the 76ers have scored 115.8 points per game. They could easily do that against a short-handed Milwaukee team that also can't keep up on offense.
Pick: 76ers +3 (-112)